Goodbye, Nextel...

Aren't you the person who started the Nextel poll earlier, claiming you were serious about Nextel, not joking in your poll, and in this other posting (http://www.phonescoop.com/news/discuss.php?f m=m&ff=6871&fi=2565585) you now are patting Sprint on the back and saying good riddance to Nextel/iDEN.

Perhaps you should be in politics, given that you appear to be rather two-faced or disingenuous.

Still, don't be offended if I don't roll over and give up on Nextel, just because Hesse & his henchmen are incompetent morons. Nextel still has the best performance and the most value in my situation, and I have not seen anything with the other carriers that comes close to it.

You can seriously want to know what people like about something without liking it. It's not like he tried to skew the survey. I, on the other hand, have nothing but disdain for people in Wal-Mart "beep-beeping" each other to say that they're in Sporting Goods. I think that comes across in my posts, though.

None of us, even hard-core Nextel fans, like the inconsiderate users who inappropriately use the PTT feature in public places.

Just as you said the other poster can want to gather info about Nextel even if he/she does not like it, you have to allow that just because a small percentage of Nextel users are inconsiderate should not detract from its value and usefulness to others, not should those of us who use PTT properly be lumped in as "rednecks" or inconsiderate people with those users who are bozos.

cellphonesaretools said:None of us, even hard-core Nextel fans, like the inconsiderate users who inappropriately use the PTT feature in public places.

Just as you said the other poster can want to gather info about Nextel even if he/she does not like it, you have to allow that just because a small percentage of Nextel users are inconsiderate should not detract from its value and usefulness to others, not should those of us who use PTT properly be lumped in as "rednecks" or inconsiderate people with those users who are bozos.

I find it amazing that the same folks who complain about Nextel NEVER say anything about others who use standard walkie-talkies, or even folks who turn their cellphone speaker
...(continues)

But with 11 Million customers in the US, plus additional millions of customers in the rest of the Americas, plus a nationwide network that was built out long ago and already paid for, plus some of the highest ARPU numbers in the industry, the economics are not only viable but attractive (to a competent company, which of course Sprint is not).

They could spend millions rebuilding the slow, outdated iDEN network so that Wal-Mart buddies can have their 'bleep bleep', or they can spend those same millions expanding a powerful, up-to-date CDMA network and rolling out an even more powerful WiMAX network.

Since they're incompetent, they'll obviously go with speed and reliability over 'bleep bleep'.

Nobody ever said anything about rebuilding the iDEN network. It was clearly stated that the economics are still viable because the network is already built and fully functional. Because there is still a need for iDEN's bulletproof PTT, the network could even be economically expanded in areas of high demand but low coverage, on a case-by-case, local area basis. Too bad you haven't spent as much time studying the important things like quarterly reports, ARPU, ARPE, ROI, etc. as much as you have (apparently) boned up on the latest phone interface or widget.

Of course the hot ticket is to add data capability alongside the existing iDEN network, which is exactly what Nextel was doing before Sprint came along and defacated in the punch bowl. No...(continues)

When Sprint merged with Nextel, they accepted a large debt in trade for the spectrum rights and technology patents owned by Nextel. Nextel was not a profitable company, and Sprint has continued to lose money with their service.

Sprint has tried to find ways to upgrade the iDEN data network alongside CDMA without causing a detriment to the customers or their pockets, and it's just not feasible. There is unfortunately no way to upgrade iDEN to 3G data without causing current iDEN phones to lose services. It's been looked into, they tried to close the gap with Hybrids, and then later DCS phones to get the Direct Connect loyal customers to move to the higher quality CDMA network.

RE: "It's simply too expensive to try to maintain both networks at maximum capacity, and Sprint has chosen to do away with the network that has the lowest customer satisfaction ratings and causes more tech support calls. While I won't say there are no good things about iDEN, a decision had to be made, and it was."

* The only successful mergers in the US have all been ones that, at least for a reasonable period, maintained the brands and their operations as separate divisions, comingling only the bottom-line financials. That fact was lost on Sprint, and they made the fateful watershed decision to immediately wipe out the Nextel brand and force...(continues)

Amarantamin said:...Nextel was not a profitable company, and Sprint has continued to lose money with their service...

Not only was Nextel a profitable company pre-merger, it had the highest ARPU of any in the wireless industry.

With regard to it being the network with more customer complaints--that never happened when they were a stand-alone company. Not until the merger did customer defections start taking place. The bottom line is Sprint has neglected the iDEN network, and abandoned completely any plans to upgrade it from day one.

I will agree that now Sprint was forced to make a choice; unfortunately, the choice was to shut down the network they neglected.

jrfdsf said: "Not only was Nextel a profitable company pre-merger, it had the highest ARPU of any in the wireless industry."

Which is exactly correct and to which I would add:

Nextel had even higher "ARPE" average revenue per EMPLOYEE than any other US wireless provider. In 2004 Nextel generated gross revenue of $13.4 billion with approx 19,000 employees, while Sprint Wireless generated gross revenue of $14.6 billion with approx 30,000 employees. Thus in 2004 Nextel grossed 44% more per employee compared to Sprint (using Sprint's numbers as the baseline). Put another way, (using Nextel's numbers as the baseline), Sprint was 31% less efficient than Nextel was.

In a nutshell, Nextel had less than 2/3 the number of customers as Spr...(continues)